On July 4th, 2006, I embarked on a quest to become the pre-eminent American portrait painter of the 21st century. This blog chronicles that journey. With apologies to Joan Didion, I call it THE YEAR OF MAGICAL PAINTING.

Friday, May 08, 2009

Helicopter Ben, Volume 3

And I've gotten approval to proceed with "Helicopter Ben" (hereafter to be know, in shorthand, as HeliBen). In the end, my benefactor decided to allow me to choose the source image. Responsibility is a heady brew. Responsibility should be managed responsibly, one might say. Given the responsibility for choosing the photo myself inevitably leads me to this:

That said, I'm not gonna use it. I may very well paint it, but not as HeliBen. Perhaps later in the summer. The title "Fed Head" jumps to mind and makes me smile just typing the damned ting.

The moral? You don't want to shoot yourself in the foot with regards to your relationships with the people who are giving you lots of money for your paintings. The general thinking is that if they like the first one they may buy another. So it's a toss-up between this one:

And this one:

I like the look in his eyes on the first one, but I like the general arrogance of the second, the one towards which I'm leaning. I love the hand.